TEE TO GREEN  - AT&T CHAMPIONS CLASSIC

Weekly Update #3

VALENCIA COUNTRY CLUB, MARCH 10-16 2008

February 5, 2008

COUNTDOWN – 5 WEEKS

UP NEXT ON THE CHAMPIONS TOUR:

The Champions Tour resumes play after a one week hiatus with the first of two events in Florida.  The Allianz Championship in Boca Raton, February 4-10, is the third of 29 Charles Schwab Cup events.  Mark James won last year’s inaugural event, shooting a 15-under on the Old Course at Broken Sound Club.  It was the Englishman’s third career win on the Champions Tour.

CHAMPIONS TOUR NOT LACKING FOR NEWS:  With two events down on its 29th season, the storylines and news surrounding the Champions Tour continues to be positive, especially as new “rookies” join the 50 and over set.  An example of some of the top news and notes items for 2008 include:

Total prize money offered for the 29 events this year is a record $55.5 million;

The purse for the AT&T Champions Classic is $1.6 million;

Fifteen players earned at least $1 million last year on tour.  Jay Haas won the Arnold Palmer Award as the leading money winner for the second consecutive year, winning more than $2.5 million in prize money last year.  He will try to become the first player ever to win three straight Arnold Palmer Awards this year.  Hale Irwin was the last player to win two straight in 1997-98.

Haas has played in the AT&T Champions Classic twice at Valencia CC.  He finished T22 last year with a 54-hole total of 212.  In 2006, he finished T17 with a total score of 217.

With each passing season, the competition to win a Champions Tour event gets increasingly more difficult. Last year, there were 21 different winners and eight first-time winners.  Rookies John Cook, Bernhard Langer and Mark Wiebe all won events, and all three have committed to the AT&T Champions Classic. 

Sandy Lyle (Feb. 9) and Ian Woosnan (March 2) both turn 50 prior to the AT&T Champions Classic.

Hale Irwin and Gil Morgan, both over 60-years-old, each captured wins in 2007.  Irwin led the first two rounds of the AT&T Champions Classic last year before finishing T-4.

The Champions Tour has had at least 20 different winners per season in 15 of the last 17 years and there has been at least five first-time
winners every season since 1997.

In seven years at Valencia CC, the AT&T Champions Classic has had five different winners.  Defending champ Tom Purtzer is a repeat winner, also claiming the 2003 event, while Tom Kite won in 2002 and 2006.

The average length of courses on the Champions Tour last year was 6,959 yards. 

Valencia CC, considered one of the toughest tests on the Champions Tour, plays 6,940 yards.

TICKET SALES:

Tickets for this year’s 54-hole stroke play event are available for purchase online at www.attchampionsclassic.com.  Tickets, which start as low as $15, can be purchased  through one of the event’s Champions for Charity partners, including the Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital Foundation, Special Olympics Southern California/Santa Clarita Chapter, SCV Youth Project, Boys and Girls Club of Antelope Valley, Santa Clarita Valley Optimist Club, Los Angeles Junior Golf Foundation, Girl Scouts:  Joshua Tree Council and the following High School Golf Teams:  Canyon Girls Golf, Valencia Boys Golf, Hart Girls Golf, Chaminade Golf Team, West Ranch Golf Team, College of the Canyons Foundation and Total Golf Adventures. 

TEE IT UP WITH THE PROS:

Pro-Am spots are available for Wednesday, March 12, or Thursday, March 13, at Valencia Country Club.  The price per foursome is $9,000 per day, which in addition to the round of golf on one of the Champions Tour’s toughest courses, includes two tickets per Pro-Am participant for Tuesday night’s pairing party, the Wednesday evening Gala, featuring the Beach Boys, and a number of other special gifts.  Contact the tournament office at 661-260-1897 for information.